nius, to reconcile the philofopher with the man of the world, and judicioufly divide his hours between action and retirement.

WHAT has been faid of a celebrated French tranflator, may with equal justice be applied to Mr. Pope," that it is doubt"ful whether the dead or the living are "moft obliged to him." His translations of Homer, and imitations of Horace, have introduced to the acquaintance of the English reader, two of the most confiderable authors in all antiquity: as indeed they are equal to the credit of fo many original works. A man must have a very confiderable share of the different fpirit which diftinguishes those most admirable poets, 'who is capable of reprefenting in his own language, fo true an image of their respective manners. If we look no farther than these works themselves, without confidering them with respect to any attempts of the fame nature which have been made by others, we fhall have fufficient reason to esteem them for their own intrinfic merit. But how will this uncommon genius rife in our admiration, when we compare his claffical translations with thofe fimilar performances,

which have employed fome of the most celebrated of our poets? I have lately been turning over the Iliad with this view: and perhaps, it will be no unentertaining amufement to you, to examine the several copies which I have collected of the original, as taken by fome of the most confiderable of our English mafters. To fingle them out for this purpose according to the order of the particular books, or paffages, upon which they have refpectively exercised their pencils; the pretenfions of Mr. Tickel stand first to be examined.

THE action of the Iliad opens, you know, with the speech of Chryfes, whose daughter, having been taken captive by the Grecians, was allotted to Agamemnon. This venerable priest of Apollo is represented as addreffing himself to the Grecian chiefs, in the following pathetic fimplicity of eloquence:

Ατρείδαι τε, και αλλοι εϋκνημίδες Αχαιοι, Υμιν μία, θεοι δοιέν, ολυμπια δωματ' έχονίες, Εκπέρσαι Πριαμοιο πολιν, δν δ' οικαδ' ικειι· Παίδα δε μοι λυσαλε φίλην, τα δ' αποινα δέχεθε, Αζομίνοι Διος you έκηβολον Απολλωνα. 1. 17.

Great

Great Atreus' fons and warlike Greece, attend: th' immortal Gods your caufe defend,

Se

may

So may you Priam's lofty bulwarks burn,
And rich in gather'd fpoils to Greece return,
As, for thefe gifts, my daughter you bestow,
And rev'rence due to great Apollo fhew,
Jove's fav'rite offspring, terrible in war,
Who fends bis fhafts unerring from afar.
TICKEL.

That affecting tendernefs of the father, which Homer has marked out by the melancholy flow of the line, as well as by the endearing expreffion of

Παιδα δε μοι λυσαλε φιλών,

When

is entirely loft by Mr. Tickel. Chryfes coldly mentions his daughter, without a fingle epithet of concern or affection, he feems much too indifferent himself to move the audience in his favor. But the whole paffage as it stands in Mr. Pope's Iliad, is in general animated with a far more lively fpirit of poetry. Who can obferve the moving posture of fupplication in which he has drawn the venerable old priest, ftretching out his arms in all the affect

ing

ing warmth of intreaty, without sharing in his distress, and melting into pity?

Ye kings and warriors! may your vows be crown'd,

And Troy's proud walls lie level with the ground:
•May Jove restore you when your toils are o'er,
Safe to the pleasures of your native fhore:
But, oh! relieve a wretched parent's pain,
And give Chryfeis to thefe arms again.
If mercy fail, yet let my prefents move,
And dread avenging Phabus, fon of Jove.

POPE.

The infinuation with which Chryfes clofes his fpeech, that the Grecians must expect the indignation of Apollo would pursue them if they rejected the petition of his prieft, is happily intimated by a fingle epi

thet:

And dread avenging Phabus.

whereas the other tranflator takes the compass of three lines to exprefs the fame thought less strongly.

WHEN the heralds are fent by Agamemnon to Achilles, in order to demand Brifeïs; that chief is prevailed upon to part

3

with her

and accordingly directs Patroclus to deliver up this contested beauty, into their hands;

Πατροκλο δε φιλῳ επεπεθεθ ̓ εταιρῷ, Εκ δ' αγαγε κλισίης Βρισηίδα καλλιπαρή Δώκε δ' αγειν τω δ' αυλις την παρα νηας Αχαίων. Η δ' αεκ8σ' αμα τοισι γυνη κιεν i.

345. The beauty of Brifeïs as defcribed in these lines, together with the reluctance with which she is heré reprefented as forced from her lord, cannot but touch the reader in a very fenfible manner. Mr. Tickel, however, has debased this affecting picture, by the most unpoetical and familiar diction. I will not delay you with making my objections in form to his language; but have distinguished the exceptionable expreffions, in the lines themefelves:

Patroclus his dear friend oblig'd,

And usher'd in the lovely weeping maid; Sore figh'd fhe, as the heralds took her band, And oft look'd back, flow moving o'er the Strand.

TICKEL.

Our British Homer has reftored this piece to its original grace and delicacy:

Patroclus